I have no idea why you went to so much trouble to inform me that Al Qaeda wants to kill us. Heavens to Betsy, do you think I don't know that?
The only reason I can think of is that you are trying to tell me that "wanting to kill us" is the definition of "war."
The word "war" in this situation, I would argue, is only a metaphor, like "the war on drugs" or "the war on poverty."
It's the wrong word.
Better words? No, not really. I like "competition." We are competing for the same resources -- people, places and things. Our ideas are in competition with each other. Our ideologies are in competition with each other.
We are "rivals." We are in "opposition." We are engaged in a "contest."
But it's only war in the sense that to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I'd analogize it more to our dealings with the Medellin cartel and the rest of the cocaine mafia. They kill people, too. And we want to eradicate them, too. But it's not what I would call "war."
That's not a good analogy, either, certainly not a very close analogy, but neither is "war."
In countries where the mafia is powerful, like Columbia (cocaine mafia) and Sicily (traditional mafia), the day to day danger is pretty high. But nobody calls it "war."
I agree that Al Qaeda wants to kill us -- I think I am more likely to be killed by Al Qaeda than you are, based on geography, just as you are more likely to be killed by Kim Jung Il than I am, based on geography.
Would you say we are "at war" with North Korea? |
